Gavin Lewis
IT’S easy to be cynical about the Reconstruction and Development Programme (RDP). The programme has not been helped by the rhetorical overload that accompanied its launch, unrealistic targets accompanied by impossible deadlines and the spectacle of many “opinion-makers”, particularly in business and the media (with some honourable exceptions), jumping on and off the RDP bandwagon like so many rodeo stuntmen.
But if you see the RDP as an essentially sound development ethic, which has pragmatically adapted to financial and political realities, then there is room for optimism.
The RDP went through several stages, from the fanfare that accompanied its launch in 1994, through the deluge of media coverage in the first half of 1995, to increasing concerns and criticisms at lack of delivery in the second half of 1995.
For the politicians at least, the November 1995 local government elections laid to rest at least one spectre – no matter what the government’s performance, the African National Congress’s support base in all but two provinces remained secure.
This set the scene for the closure of the RDP office in March 1996, and the transfer of its functions to the Ministry of Finance and the office of the deputy president.
Nonetheless, despite the smoke and dust, three years on the RDP can point to some reconstruction and development.
It does look like we will have between 160000 and 190 000 low-cost housing units in place this year. The one-millionth water connection has been made – something that in poorer areas transforms the quality of life and the health of women and children.
And while the Health Ministry gets itself tangled up in highly publicised Sarafina and Parafina debacles, it is this very department which perhaps tallies the highest RDP score: it runs a nutrition programme reaching 12 300 schools; 550 clinics have been built and 2 400 are being upgraded; pregnant women and children under six receive free healthcare; and in education, more than 1 500 schools have been renovated and R1,1-billion approved for new school buildings.
In the transport arena, the first concrete steps at moderating the taxi violence are being taken and the Maputo Development Corridor, with many useful developmental spinoffs from rural development to tourism, is under way.
The extension of postboxes to formerly underserviced areas is making an impact – if the letters can make it through the postal system. Telkom is to roll out 1,8- million new lines during four years as part of its partial privatisation. And electrification has exceeded its RDP targets with 1,3-million new connections since 1994. In addition, the ambitious 10- year R170-billion municipal infrastructure programme is under way.
Against these achievements there are many criticisms. Some key RDP areas have not performed well whether because of bureaucratic slowness (land reform), ill- conceived blanket severance offers (education, local government), normal project lead and lag times, or, most commonly, lack of capacity at local government level where huge problems remain.
Some of the best performers have had the advantage of existing structures, such as Eskom.
What most of the RDP programmes have in common is that they have all backtracked from the original promises.
There will be no universal social welfare system, no free education, no free healthcare for all for the foreseeable future. Despite this, there are real achievements, based on a sound developmental ethic: sustainability, community involvement, community ownership and an emphasis on the marginalised – women, children and the rural poor.
Clearly the ANC has undergone a dramatic turnaround in economic policy since 1990. Equally clearly, this means the adoption of stringent market-related policies. This was part of the political compromise which made 1994 possible. But the hard truth is that in the late 20th century, no country, not even the United States, retains its economic sovereignty. Until a “third way” is pioneered (perhaps in Latin America), we have little choice.
We either participate in the global economy, or we withdraw into isolation. The costs of both are high, but certainly more with the latter than the former. What we have now is an ideologically pragmatic government which is tempered with a developmentally sound, if imperfectly executed social policy, which is beginning to draw in non-governmental organisations and the private sector and is beginning to show results.
Dr Gavin Lewis is editor of two independent monthly journals, the RDP Monitor and the Tourism Info Brief